UNITED
NATIONS, July
24 -- While
the UN claims
to have a
policy of only
meeting with
indictees of
the
International
Criminal Court
when it is
"strictly
necessary," UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
this month met
with Sudan's
Omar al
Bashir,
indicted by
the ICC for
war crimes and
genocide in
Darfur.
Ladsous
and
his four
spokespeople have refused to answer Press
questions;
as
Inner City
Press
reported, rights
groups --
but not Human
Rights
Watch -- say they
lobbied
against the
meeting but
were rebuffed.
So
when the head
of Ladsous'
Mission in
Darfur Mohamed
ibn Chambas
came
to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout to
take question
on Wednesday,
Inner City
Press was
ready.
When Chambas
arrived at the
UN
microphone,
Inner City
Press was the
only reporter
there. In the
spirit of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access, Inner
City Press
suggested to
Chambas he
make whatever
opening
statement he
liked,
before Inner
City Press
would ask the
Bashir and ICC
question. Video
here, at
beginning.
Chambas
spoke,
including
about the
unsolved
killing of
seven
Tanzanian
peacekeepers
under Ladsous'
command and
"care," then
looked
to Inner City
Press for a
question.
But
just then
Ladsous'
spokesman Andre-Michel
Essoungou who
in December
went so far as
to grab the UN
microphone to
try to prevent
Inner City
Press from
asking Ladsous
about the 135
rapes at
Minova by
Ladsous'
partners in
the Congolese
Army including
the 391st
Battalion,
intervened.
Essoungou
ordered
the person
with the UNTV
boom
microphone, an
employee of
new
contractor
TeamPeople and
not of the UN,
to move it
away from
Inner
City Press and
give it
instead to the
Agence
France Presse
reporter
who has
defended
Ladsous since
Ladsous was
given the job,
not at the
first choice,
back in
September 2011.
This
reporter, who
has done more
for Ladsous through
the UN
Correspondents
Association
and since, not
surprisingly
thanked
Ladsous'
spokesman
Essoungou.
But
given what
happened in
December with
the
microphone,
and repeated
promises by
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
that Essoungou
had been
spoken to,
Inner City
Press asked
him what his
role was, and
if the goal
was to give
the question
to AFP, Agence
France Presse.
Video
here, from
Minute 1:00.
Essoungou,
like
Ladsous, did
not answer.
Inner City
Press waited
while the AFP
reported asked
a generic
softball
question about
the
peacekeepers
killed under
Ladsous'
watch, and
then ask about
those killings
(specifically
reports that
the stolen UN
vehicles were
seen in the
possession of
an associate
of Ali
Kushayb, also
ICC indicted)
and
about Ladsous'
meeting with
Omar al
Bashir. Video
here, from
Minute
2:43.
On
the killings,
Chambas said
there is an
investigation,
now a UN
"Board
of Inquiry"
such as was
held -- but
not acted on
-- in the case
of UN Security
officer Louis
Maxwell killed
in and by
Afghanistan,
click here for
that.
Chambas
did
not answer the
Bashir meeting
question, so
Inner City
Press asked
it again. Video
here at
Minute 4:37.
Chambas said
it was better
to
leave that to
Mr. Ladsous.
But
he hasn't done
a stakeout in
a while, Inner
City Press
pointed out.
(Even when he
has, he has
refused
questions or
tried to avoid
them,
for example by
Essoungou's
microphone
grab.)
He
may soon,
Chambas said,
and left the
microphone.
Essoungou was
long
gone. This is
how this UN
works - or
doesn't. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
